Lena, 29 years old, is a midwife, active in assisting home births. Recently, she assisted a long-term home birth, and stayed in the same position, hanging over a bath with both arms, monitoring the baby’s heartbeat for nearly 3 hours. When coming home after a very tiring working day, she woke up the next morning […]
Although rotator cuff disorders are very common (about 70% of all patients with shoulder pain), the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions is still unclear, mainly due to the fact that most trials are small sample size short term studies. Therefore the aim of the GRASP-trail was to investigate in a randomized trial the […]
This was the question the Master students Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy from Ghent University Léonie Lejon, Yao Lin, and Silke Schotte wanted to answer with their project. The covid pandemic has forced us to examine, treat and guide patients with shoulder pain through internet communication as an alternative for the usual care in vivo. Many […]
Although we don’t know their real interaction, common risk factors for sportsrelated shoulder pain have been described, such as range of motion deficits, mainly into internal rotation (IR), external rotator ER) strength deficits, scapular dysfunction, but also a lack of core stability, hip stability and mobility. (Clarsen et al. BJSM 2014, Chalmers et al. Sports […]
The incidence of a traumatic shoulder dislocation is 23/100 000 persons/year with a recurrence rate from 26% up to 92%. Incidence of a first time traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation (FTASD) is higher in contact sports, and recurrence rate depends upon risk factors that may be modifiable (such as activity level) or non-modifiable (such as age […]
On November 22 2019, the city of Bern hosted the #Sportfisio2019 symposium for its 17th edition, with main topic “The shoulder in sports”. Organizers @SportfisioSwiss gathered a team of international speakers and more than 500 delegates for this one-day event. Below some take home messages from each of the speakers: Merete Möller (Denmark, Norway, @Merete_Moller) […]
On October 4-5th 2019, sports physiotherapists from all over the world gathered for the 3rd World Congress of Sports Physiotherapists (https://www.sportphysio.ca/calendar-of-upcoming-events/spc2019/). A major topic of discussion was the value of screening (ROM, strength, functional tests…) for injury prevention and return to play after injury. The world experts agree that at this moment, there is not […]
During the RTP phase of rehabilitation, the practitioner must balance 2 conflicting components, on one hand the knowledge that premature RTP increases the risk for re-injury and on the other hand that the player as well as the team desire return to participation as quickly as possible. Combining evidence with clinical expertise, the clinician plans […]
Parsonage-Turner syndrome (PTS) is an uncommon neurological disorder characterized by rapid and idiopathic onset of severe pain in the shoulder and arm. It involves mainly the plexus brachialis and/or the n. thoracicus longus or accessorius. Often the patient reports getting up in the morning with a painful arm and a substantial scapular malpositioning (“I felt […]
Efficient communication with patients is challenging but crucial in our shared pathway through rehabilitation. There is a great body of evidence highlighting the importance of acknowledging the psycho-social and emotional context of the patient (De Baets et al. 2019), efficient communication (Bukstein et al. 2016), shared decision making, and patient centered approach (Wijma et al. […]
Closed chain exercises (where the hand is supported on a moveable or fixed surface) are considered to be safe in the early stages of rehab in patients with shoulder instability, and are supposed to increase proprioceptive quality and neuromuscular control. Many variables determine the level of difficulty of these exercises, such as the body weight […]
In our decision-making regarding return to sports after an injury, we try as much as possible to have objective criteria that are measurable and based on scientific evidence. A science-based RTS model for overhead athletes after a shoulder injury is still lacking, however at the level of ROM and strength, 2 major components of shoulder […]
During the rehabilitation of biceps related pathology, such as tenosynovitis, SLAP lesions, or postoperative treatment after a biceps tenodesis or tenotomy, we have to take into account biceps load during the different stages of the rehabilitation. During the protective phase, or the phase of high irritability, minimal load should be put on the biceps, whereas […]
From January 30 till February 2nd 2019, more than 850 specialists in Sports Medicine from all over the world gathered in Copenhagen for the Scandinavian Sports Medicine Congress. Five parallel sessions and workshops provided food for everyone’s scientific or clinical hunger and for me as a shoulder-nerd, it was perfectly possible to select the more […]
Frozen shoulder is a common shoulder disorder, characterized by gradual decrease of range of motion (ROM) in the glenohumeral joint, accompanied by increasing pain. In spite of many investigations, the origin and mechanism are still poorly understood. Multiple labels have been attributed to this condition, from “adhesive capsulitis”, over “waste can diagnosis” to the more […]
The purpose of the physical examination of a patient with shoulder pain is multifactorial. The clinician seeks information about tissue irritability, pain mechanisms, activity and participation limits, the patient’s expectations and goals etc…During the clinical examination, one of the purposes it to examine possible underlying biomechanical factors causing or perpetuating the current movement limitations and/or […]
Recent studies have shown that patients with degenerative rotator cuff (RC) tears have similar good results from an exercise program compared to surgical intervention (Jeanfavre M et al. IJSPT 2018). In the conservative treatment of RC tears, it is advised to use function-based rather than structure-based exercises. In other words it is much more important […]
Patients with shoulder pain often exhibit hyperactivity in the muscles surrounding the scapula. In particular, the pectoralis minor seems to be prone to hyperactivity or tension related to shoulder dysfunction. (Castelein et al. Manual Therapy 2016). In case a patient with shoulder disorders shows a dysfunction in the scapular muscles, it is important to restore […]